Women's basketball: UNT earns sweep in HHC

Mike Petersen knows just what an advantage playing at home and getting a season started on the right note can be.

That’s why UNT’s head coach hatched the idea of having a home tournament pretty much the moment after he took over the program before the beginning of last season.

The Mean Green reaped the benefits over the weekend, picking up a pair of wins. The second came in landslide fashion Sunday, when UNT hammered Bethune-Cookman 82-49 in the final game of the Hospitality Hill Challenge at the Super Pit.

UNT rolled past Abilene Christian 64-50 in its first game of the event on Saturday.

The tournament provided the Mean Green (3-2) a chance to reset after a tough pair of games against nationally ranked Texas A&M and Houston.

“We got two home games and we got two wins,” Petersen said. “It was a productive two days. It was a hard turnaround playing 7:30 last night and then playing at 5 today. Our kids handled that really well.”

UNT rolled to its best offensive outing of the season while dealing with that tight window between games, posting a season-high for points while shooting 48.3 percent (28-for-58) from the floor.

UNT had three players finish in double figures, including BreAnna Dawkins, who scored 14 points. Acheil Tac had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Desiree Nelson also had 12 points.

Bethune-Cookman struggled offensively. Rene Chastity Taylor scored 12 points and was the Wildcats’ only player to reach double figures.

UNT never trailed and ran out to a 44-15 lead at the end of the first half.

The Mean Green led by as many as 32 in the opening period, when it shot 50 percent (14-for-28) from the floor.

The Lady Wildcats went 10 1/2 minutes between field goals in the first half while struggling to handle UNT’s pressure defense. Shakeyia Colyer hit a jumper at the 14:04 mark of the first half, Bethune-Cookman’s last field goal until Kayla Crawford hit a layup in the closing moments of the first half.

UNT continued to roll in the second half, pushing its lead to as many as 37 and getting several of its reserves playing time in the second half. The Mean Green had 11 players score.

“One of the great things about having depth is that you can play a lot of players,” Petersen said. “One of the hard things about having depth is that there are a lot of times when you don’t get to get everyone out there. You can’t play 13 people in a close game like we did today. This game allowed us to play more people, which was really good for us.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870 or via Twitter at @brettvito.

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